Shoe-clasp



(No Model.) I J. L. THOMSON.

. sfioE CLASP.

No. 313,255. Patented Mar. 3, 1885.

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SHOE-CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 313,255, dated March 3, 1885.

Application filed September 4, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JUDSON L. THOMSON, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in ShoeOlasps, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the class of shoeclasps designed for arctic overshoes, and in which a transversely-slotted plate attached to one of the quarters of the shoe interlocks with a tongue hinged on a plate attached to the other quarter of said shoe. Such clasps are usually provided with a spring which presses on a cam attached to the tongue, and thereby holds said tongue down upon its supporting-plate and securely interlocked with the slotted plate. Such clasps, however, have been found to be quite expensive to manufacture, the material required being the best quality of sheet-steel, which is very expensive and causes great wear and tear on the tools employed in cutting and stamping out the plates,

\ and, furthermore, said springs'are liable to break and thus destroy the utility of the clasp.

The object of this invention is to provide a clasp which shall combine the utmost simplicity of construction and minimum cost of manufacture with efficiency and convenience of operation, and possess the capability of antomatically retaining its interlocked position without the aid of a spring; and to that end my invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described, and specifically set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an edge view of my improved shoe-clasp with the parts interlocked with each other. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the tongue-plate, with the tongue swung away from it to better illustrate the construction and combination of said parts. Fig. 5 is a detached plan view of the tongue-plate and tongue. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the blank from which the tongue-plate is formed, and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the blank from which the tongue is formed.

have perfectly plain and straight edges, as

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A denotes the usual transversely-slotted plate designed to be attached to one of the flaps or quarters of the overshoe.

B is the plate which is to be attached to the other flap or quarter of said shoe, and T is the tongue hinged on said plateand interlocking with the slotted plate A when clasped, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings. Said tongue-plate B, I form of a single thickness of material, and with eyes 6 e, which rise above the plane of the plate, so as to pass through the slot of the plate A when the parts are interlocked as aforesaid.

Between the eyes 0 c, I provide the plate B with an opening, a, which extends rearward sufficiently to receive through it the flap of the shoe to which it is to be attached, as represented by dotted lines in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings. This plate I form of a blank, B, consisting simply of a cross-bar, m, and two parallel arms, a a, which project at right-angles from opposite ends of the cross-bar, and

shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. If desired, the aforesaid blank may be made with an ex tension, 9", and with an opening, 8, in said eX- tension, to afford an additional means of attachment to the flap of the shoe, as represented in Fig. dot the drawings. Said blank is formed in one piece, which is easily stamped out of sheet metal, the eyes 6 0 being formed by bending the ends of the arms a a into the requisite shape. The tongue T, I form of a blank, T, (shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings) and consisting of an elongated plate, cl, having at one end two lugs, b b, projecting from opposite edges of said plate, and an extension, 0, on the same end of the plate (I. This blank is also formed in one piece stamped out of sheet metal, the plate at constituting the tongue proper, T, the lugs b b forming the pintle b, by which the tongue is hinged in the eyes 6 e, and the extension c being made to serve the function of a cam, c, by bending it downward from the plane of the plate cl, as shown. Said cam is made to stand at such an angle that when the tongue is interlocked with the slotted plateA and lying upon the plate 13 the cam c has a too bearing in the slotted plate below the'pivot of the tongue, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. The aforesaid bearing causes the tongue T to be drawn down upon the plate B by the draft on the plate A, and thus automatically retain the parts in their interlocked position.

I do not claim, broadly, the combination of a pivoted tongue or lever having below its fulcrum a cam engaging with the part interlocked with said tongue or lever, as I am aware that the same is not new; but I do not know of an instance where the members of such combination have been so constructed as to adapt them for use as a shoe-clasp.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1, A shoeclasp consisting of the combination, with a slotted plate having an opening for attachment to one of the flaps or quarters of a shoe, of a tongue-plate having an opening for attachment to the other quarter of said shoe. and a tongue hinged on said plate and provided below the axis of its hinge with a cam-bearing adapted to press against the slotted plate when interlocked with said tongue, substantially as set forth.

2. A shoe-clasp comprising a tongue-plate of a single thickness of material, adapted for attachment to one of the quarters of the shoe, and provided with bearings for the pivot of the tongue, and with an opening between said bearings, and the tongue hinged in said bearings, and a cam on the tongue playing freely in the'aforesaid opening of the tongue-plate, substantially as described and shown.

3. A shoe-clasp consisting of the combination, with the slotted plate A, of the plate B, formed with the raised eyes e, and the opening a between said eyes, and the tongue T, having integral therewith the pintle b and cam 0, said cam playing in the opening a, and having a bearing on the slotted plate when interlocked with the tongue, as set forth and shown.

4. In combination with the slotted plate A, the springless clasp composed of the plate B, formed with raised eyes 0 e, and having between said eyes the opening a for the attaohment of the shoe-flap, and the tongue '1, hinged in the eyes e e, and having a bearing in the slotted plate when interlocked, substantially as described and shown.

5. The blank B, consisting of the cross-bar m and parallel arms n a, projecting from the ends of the cross-bar and having plain straight edges, as shown, the whole formed in one piece,

stamped out of sheet metal.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and affixed my seal, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, this 16th day of August, 1884.

JUDSON L. THOMSON. [L. s]

Witnesses:

FREDERICK H. GIBBS, WM. 0. RAYMOND. 

